


More Than Miles

by nevergone



Category: Suits (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-19
Updated: 2011-11-19
Packaged: 2017-10-26 06:55:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/280067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nevergone/pseuds/nevergone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mike and Harvey go on a road trip together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for suits_meme on LJ.

"Remind me again, why can't we just fly there, like normal people?"

"Harvey, you know the client's stance on flying."

"That's _his_ stance, not mine. It's not like he would know we flew."

"That's not the point, Harvey. And it's not going to kill you to have to drive somewhere either. In fact, it could be good for you two. Male bonding and what not," Jessica said with a smile. She was enjoying this way too much.

"About that, do I really have to take the kid with me?"

"You do realize I'm still in this room?" Mike said.

"Of course you have to take him. He's your associate. You picked him. He's your problem to deal with."

"Orrr..you can just keep talking about me like I'm not here," Mike mumbled under his breath.

"Jessica, I really think you should re-consider."

"And I really think you should get out of my office. You have packing to do. Go. Now."

Harvey let out a huff of frustration before turning to leave the room, "Let's go, Mike."

"Oh and Harvey? Mike? Have fun," she added as they were halfway out the door. She was _definitely_ enjoying this way too much.

Harvey just gave one of his patented eye rolls before closing the door.

"Wait, Harvey are we seriously going on a road trip together?" Mike asked excitedly, while scrambling to keep up pace with Harvey.

"First things first, Mike. It's a business trip, not a road trip, road trips are supposed to be fun, and with your friends. Being trapped in a car with you? Well, that's the exact opposite of that."

Mike looked like he just had the wind knocked out of his sails.

"Look, I didn't mean it like that. I'm just frustrated, is all."

"So you _do_ want to go on a road trip with me?" Mike asked.

"Don't push it. Why don't you go home and get packed awhile. I'm going to have Donna get our itinerary together and everything ready, so we can try to make this nightmare go as smoothly as possible. All right?"

"What do I need to bring? I've never really been on a road trip before."

"I don't know, Mike. Clothes, for starters. You're smart, figure the rest out. And stop calling it a road trip."

"All right. Clothes. Got it. I'm going to go pack now. This is pretty exciting, Harvey."

"Would you just go already?"

"Right," Mike said as he ran off.

Harvey sometimes wishes he could be more like Mike, excited about, and by, everything. Being trapped in a car, hours upon hours of driving, rest stops, and hotels, however, just weren't exactly his idea of a good time. However, he'd have to suck it up, because Jessica obviously had made up her mind, and getting her to change her mind once it was made up was about as easy as getting Harvey to change his.

So off he went to find Donna so she could get everything arranged. At least with Donna getting everything ready, that meant everything should at the very least, run like a well-oiled machine and they could get this thing done and over with, and when they got back Harvey was so treating himself to the most expensive wine money could buy.

\--

In typical Donna fashion, she was already holding out a stack of papers to him before he could even get the first word out of his mouth.

"This is everything?"

"Everything. I planned out your motel stops along the way, and I listed off different rest areas, gas stations, places to eat, gas stations, et cetera. There are also some maps in there with your route highlighted."

"That's great and all, but my GPS can take care of that."

"Yeah, about that. I also have the information for the rental car you'll be using."

"Rental? I'm not using a rental."

"Seriously Harvey? You'll be packed like sardines in any of your cars. But if you're okay with Mike sitting on your lap, then I'll just call and cancel the rental."

"Shit. Screw it, I'll just take the GPS out of one of my cars, just to be safe, because I'm not about to deal with maps like we're on some god damn treasure hunt."

"Good. Looks like you're all set then. We'll have the rental dropped off at your place in the AM, so I suggest you get home, get packed, and get some rest, you've got a long day of driving ahead of you tomorrow."

"Thanks," Harvey sighed.

"And Harvey, just because you're miserable, doesn't mean you should make Mike miserable too. He seemed pretty excited when I saw him."

"I'll try."

\--

Mike could barely sleep, and even though Harvey didn't seem too keen on the idea of a road trip, which despite what Harvey said, this was a road trip, damn it, Mike was excited about it.

Work had been stressful lately, so almost an entire week away from it seemed like a welcomed change, even though it was still officially for work. Since Mike couldn't sleep he spent some time googling what to bring on a road trip, but he was still certain he was probably forgetting things. Like Mike had told Harvey, he'd never really been on a road trip before, the closest he came was a 5 hour drive with his Grammy to see some kind of specialist many years ago, and that definitely didn't count.

Harvey, on the other hand, slept like a baby and was annoyed when he heard his alarm clock going off before the sun had even come up. He dragged himself from bed and threw himself into the shower in an attempt to wake himself up and feel at least somewhat human. It seemed to have worked for the most part. Coffee could probably get him the rest of the way to fully functional, he figured. As he was drying off he could hear his phone vibrating out on his nightstand, so he wrapped the towel around his waist and headed out of the bathroom to check it. It was from Mike. Of course.

 _Hey!!! I'm outside your place!! You awake yet?_

That reminded Harvey, he should look into seeing if they made phones that excluded the exclamation mark feature. He sat the phone back down and went back into the bathroom to finish changing before he decided to answer the door for Mike.

"I thought I told you that I was going to pick you up?"

"Good morning to you too, Harvey."

"It's barely morning, and that still doesn't answer why you're here."

"Sorry. I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd just save us some time and bike over here."

"You rode your bike with that duffel bag?"

"Yeah. Well, I had to walk it a lot of the way, but it wasn't too bad."

"Hmm, that's actually kind of impressive. Here, come in and set your bag down," Harvey said as he opened the door all the way, closing it once Mike had stepped inside.

"Wow, Harvey. Your place is amazing. I feel like I'm in a museum or something," Mike said as his eyes darted around the condo.

"I have to finish packing so, much like in a museum, same rules apply, don't touch anything until I get back."

"All right," Mike sighed, "I'll just be sitting over here, not touching anything."

Harvey was gone for about 20 minutes, while he packed his suitcase, everything folded perfectly and put in the suitcase in an orderly fashion. When he came back out of the room, Mike was still sitting on the sofa, his body twisted sideways, staring out the window, the expression on his face unreadable. The sun was just starting to break through, and was cascading through the window in streams, highlighting Mike's face with a soft glow. Harvey just watched him for a little while before speaking.

"Like the view?" Harvey asked, causing Mike to jump a little bit.

"It's kind of perfect."

"It really is," Harvey agreed. And he was talking about the same thing Mike was, right?

There was a slight pause, as Mike turned back to stare out the window a little longer, before Harvey said anything again.

"Do you need anything, Mike? A drink? Are you hungry?"

"A drink, please," Mike said as he pulled himself off of the couch and joined Harvey in the kitchen.

"Is orange juice okay?" Harvey asked as he opened the fridge.

Mike nodded his head, so Harvey grabbed two glasses and poured them each a glass.

"Thanks, Harvey."

"Once you finish that, I guess we can get things loaded up and hit the road, we have a lot of ground to cover today."

Mike polished off his orange juice the second Harvey had finished that sentence. "Ready," he said as he sat down his empty glass.

"I didn't mean for you to...ah, never mind. You should go to the bathroom before we leave, I don't want to have to stop 15 minutes into this thing."

"I don't have to go."

"Well, you should try anyway."

"Harvey, I'm not 5 years old."

"Fine. Suit yourself. I'm not stopping though."

"Good."

Harvey turned out the lights in his condo and locked the door behind them after they grabbed (hopefully) everything they needed, and headed outside so they could get this show on the road.

\--

There was apparently some confusion with the car, which had ended up costing them a half hour worth of time while they were waiting around for said confusion to be fixed, which didn't help Harvey's mood at all, especially when he saw the car was a, as he described it, "piece of shit". Mike thought it was pretty nice though. It looked like a normal car, which Mike guesses is why Harvey seemed to hate it so much.

Eventually though, they had gotten everything loaded, seat belts were on, and they were officially on the road. Harvey had given Mike the GPS and told him to program the first stop into it, so Mike was currently fiddling with that, while Harvey drove. They had a while to go before they would actually need the directions.

They had only been on the road about 20 minutes when Harvey noticed Mike glancing up from the GPS and at Harvey every couple of seconds, like he wanted to asked a question, but was scared to.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing..it's just..I kind of have to go to the bathroom."

"Are you serious? I told you to go before we left!"

"But I didn't have to go then. And now I do."

"Tough. I told you I wasn't going to be stopping 15 minutes into this thing."

"It's been 20 minutes," Mike pointed out.

"Just hold it like a normal person."

"I could get a bladder infection if I do that. Do you really want that hanging over your head?"

"I'll take my chances. Figure out the GPS and I'll consider stopping."

"Why can't we just use the map and directions that Donna gave to us?"

"Because it's 2011, and people don't use maps any more."

"I use maps."

"You also ride a bike."

"I'm really good with directions, Harvey. I think we should just use a map. This thing is a piece of junk."

"You're not figuring it out, because you don't want to figure it out, Mike."

"Yeah, gee, you're right Harvey, I should just will it to work with my mind."

"Seriously Mike, could you just try to get it to work? That's all I'm asking."

Mike sat in silence for awhile, really focusing on trying to make it work, but every time he tried to enter anything, the screen just turned white, and froze up.

"Okay, screw it, this thing officially sucks. I give up," Mike said tossing it to the floor of the car in frustration. He wasn't actually expecting for the screen to completely crack when he tossed it.

"Real nice, Mike. Now it's really not going to work because you just cracked the screen."

"I am so sorry, Harvey. I didn't mean to do that. I promise I will pay you back for it."

"Would you just do me a god damn favor and stop talking for awhile?" Harvey shouted.

"Sorry."

"Mike."

Mike sighed and slouched down into his seat, turning away from Harvey and just staring out the window. Pretty much any excitement he had for this road trip, had already been sucked out of it, and they hadn't even been on the road for a full 2 hours yet. Maybe this would be the nightmare trip that Harvey had made it out to be after all.

Harvey felt like a horrible person for taking his frustration out on Mike like that, especially when he knew Mike had really been looking forward to this road trip. He felt even worse when he could hear Mike sniffling and saw him wiping at his eyes. He didn't say anything to him for awhile, just focused on the road ahead instead, because really, he was unsure of what to even say to him. He was never good at apologies and Mike was definitely owed one.

The silence seemed to go on for days, despite it really only having been another hour. Harvey felt a little better when Mike faced forward again, and started leafing through the papers. In silence of course, because that's what Harvey had wanted. Except, he was going to need directions soon, and well, it was kind of boring riding in silence, and okay, maybe he was already missing having Mike to talk to.

"They should mark the damn signs around here a little better," Harvey said, as he peered outside, looking for a sign as to whether to take a left or a right.

"It's a left," Mike said in a small voice.

"How do you know?"

"I memorized the map and directions."

"Just now?"

"I tried to tell you that I was good with directions."

"Mike," Harvey said before taking a deep breath, "I shouldn't have yelled at you the way I did. I was a dick... and I am sorry."

Mike reached over and pressed his two fingers to the inside of Harvey's wrist, "Wow Harvey, you apologized to me and you still have a pulse. It didn't kill you!"

"Yeah, yeah. Are we okay?"

"We're good. I'm still really sorry I broke your GPS."

"It's okay, that thing was a piece of junk anyway."

"So I don't have you pay you back for it then?"

"Oh no, you definitely still have to pay me back for it."

"Come on, Harvey!"

"Okay, fine. Here's the deal, you give me the correct directions the rest of the trip, then you don't have to pay me back for it. Sound good?"

"Deal!" Mike said with a smile, knowing that he definitely would not be paying Harvey back for that damn thing.

"Hey Harvey?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we please stop for a bathroom break soon?"

"Oh, right, yeah. I forgot about that. You should have said something earlier."

"I would have, but you were mad at me."

Harvey was sure Mike wasn't purposely guilt tripping him about that, but it was effective nonetheless.

"So tell me, when's the next gas station?"

"A little over 15 miles."

\--

Sure enough, almost exactly 15 miles later they were pulling into a gas station. They climbed out of the car, and stretched their legs that were starting to get a little cramped from sitting in the car.

"I'm going to go find the bathroom," Mike said before starting to dash off.

"I'll meet you inside then," Harvey yelled to him, as he walked around the car to start pumping gas.

When he went inside he saw Mike standing at the register, getting ready to pay for a bottle of water.

"What are you doing?" Harvey asked, as he approached him.

"I'm uh, buying water?" Mike said, confused.

"Stop. Come with me," Harvey said as he tugged at the sleeve of Mike's shirt.

"Harvey, you can't just not let me drink anything because you think I'm going to have to pee every 15 minutes if I do."

"You really haven't ever been on a road trip, have you?"

"No," Mike said, still confused as to what Harvey was exactly getting at.

"An essential part of a road trip is getting junk food when you stop off somewhere. Not water."

"I thought you said this wasn't a road trip, that it was a business trip."

"Okay, instead of harping on what I said or didn't say, why don't you help me grab some junk food?"

"I think I can do that," Mike smiled, his expression very much like a kid in a candy store.

-

Mike and Harvey worked together to grab candy, chips, cookies and everything else in between. Mike might not have road tripped before but he was able to skill Harvey in the art of Slushie flavor mixing.

Once they got everything they needed, or rather, once they ran out of arm space to carry everything, they dumped it on the counter and paid, before heading back to the car.

"I can't believe we bought this junk food. I can't believe you encouraged buying this much junk food," Mike said, as he tore open a bag of Twizzlers.

"Just don't expect me to be encouraging your junk food habits when we get back to the office," Harvey warned.

"I won't," Mike smiled, half Twizzler hanging out of his mouth, "here," he said, handing Harvey a few.

The next two hours were spent between eating different junk foods, and sharing their opinions on them. Mike had a lot of opinions on candy, and a very intricate ranking system for them, as it turns out. And Harvey, well Mike was surprised to know that Harvey equated a lot of candy with memories of his.

He told Mike a story about how when he'd get a good grade in school, since he wasn't allowed candy on a daily basis, his mom would reward him by taking him to the candy store, and letting him pick out any flavor of candy he wanted, and he'd almost always go straight for the Caramels. He told Mike about the way his grandma would sneak him lollipops anytime he was over at her house to visit, so Mike understood why Harvey was smiling the smile he was now, the one where he uses his whole face to smile, and gets those crinkles by his eyes that Mike loves so much.

Harvey hadn't exactly planned on sharing any family stories or anything of the sort, it just kind of happened. Maybe it was the sugar rush messing with his brain, or maybe it was just the fact that Harvey felt comfortable around Mike in a way he hasn't felt with another person in, well, in probably ever.

As he watched Mike lay his head back on his seat, his lips tinged the slightest shade of red from the candy, he couldn't help but think that maybe this road trip wasn't such a bad idea, maybe it could be something good. Really good.

\--

"Ugh Harvey, I feel so sick."

"Probably because you just ate your weight in candy."

"I feel like I'm going to....'

"Going to what? Mike, please do not puke in this car," Harvey said, noticing how pale Mike's face had suddenly gotten and veering off to the side of the road, rushing to the passenger side to help Mike out. Close call too, because Mike was puking almost immediately upon getting out of the car.

Harvey stood next to him, and rubbed soft circles on the small of his back in an attempt to comfort him, and also tried to distract his mind from the fact that Mike had definitely just gotten vomit on his shoes. At least it wasn't in the car, he reminded himself.

"I think I'm good now," Mike said, standing up and catching his breath, "I didn't get any on you, did I?"

"No, we're good," Harvey said, giving his best fake smile. He walked around to the other side of the car and opened the back door, grabbed a water bottle, unscrewed the lid, and walked it over to Mike.

"Thanks," Mike said, as he took a swig from it.

"You okay to get this thing back on the road?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Let's go."

They had only been back in the car for no more than 10 minutes when Mike was eating candy again.

"Are you serious, Mike?"

"What?", he said, as he unwrapped a Starburst and popped it into his mouth.

"Do you really think you should be eating candy right after you just turned the side of the road into Candyland?"

"That wasn't because of the candy, I think it was just motion sickness or something."

"Right. You're impossible. You know that?"

"Thanks."

"It's not a compliment. Now stop eating the candy, and we will find you a place with actual food."

It was starting to get late, and Harvey was getting exhausted from driving. He was used to being driven around for the most part, so hours of driving wasn't exactly sitting well with him. They had ended up stopping at a diner, which had surprisingly good food, of course it wasn't exactly a 5 Star restaurant, and a cheeseburger and fries definitely wasn't lobster, but it was still good, and Harvey figured he'd have to live in the gym for the next year or so once they got back.

Mike on the other hand figured he kind of liked Harvey like this, not in a suit, and despite the purpose of this trip ultimately being about business, it wasn't about business when Harvey was telling jokes over dinner, and it wasn't business when he'd throw his head back and laugh at some random story Mike had just told for the sole purpose of trying to make him laugh, it was just Harvey. Harvey as a person, not Harvey Specter, Best Closer in New York.

"You ready to get out of here?"

"Let me just finish this," Mike said as he sucked the rest of his milkshake threw the straw, making that obnoxious sound a straw makes when it's sucking at barely there liquid on the bottom of a glass. Harvey would normally find that sound like nails on a chalkboard, so why did it suddenly seem somewhat, dare he say, adorable when Mike was doing it?

"All right Mapquest, how long do we have until we get to our hotel?"

"Only about 50 miles, give or take."

"Oh, is that all?"

"That's all," Mike said, apparently not catching the sarcasm Harvey had just used.

"Before we leave, we're stopping at the rest room."

"But I don't really have t-"

"Mike. Go."

"Okay. Fine."

Everything in order, and with assurance that there would be no need to stop for pee breaks, they were back on the road, with their destination not too far, yet seemingly still so far away. The drive there was mostly quiet, just the sound of the wind blowing through the cracked windows. It was a nice night out; a sky full of stars and the temperature was at the point where it would just be considered a 'little chilly' for most.

Eventually they arrived at their hotel, or what was supposed to be their hotel anyway.

"Are you sure this is it?"

Mike just gave Harvey a glance. He hadn't been wrong about anything all day and he certainly wasn't wrong now.

"This can't be right," Harvey said, as he pulled into the parking space.

"Why not? Because there's no valet? Because it's not 10 stories tall? It's just a motel, Harvey. And we're only staying for a night. It looks quaint."

"It looks like the god damn Bates Motel."

"Well, I'm going to go inside. You should come, unless you'd rather sit out here in the car and sulk all night," Mike said as he got out of the car, slamming the door behind him.

"For the record, I wasn't sulking. Because I don't sulk. Period," Harvey said as he rushed to catch up to Mike.

"So instead of sulking what term do you prefer? ActingLikeAGiantSpoiledBaby?"

"Keep it up, Ross, and you'll be walking tomorrow."

Mike just shook his head and pushed his way through the door of the front office. He was welcomed by the smiling face of a little old lady.

"Welcome to the Pines Motel," she said, happily. Too happily if you ask Harvey.

"How are you?" Mike asked.

"I'm doing quite well, darling. That's so sweet of you to ask. How are you tonight?"

"I'm great. Thank you."

'Seriously? Does Mike really have to become best friends with every single person he meets?', Harvey thought to himself.

"Our room, it should be under Specter," Harvey butted in, causing Mike to shoot him a look.

"Right hun, let me just look you up here," she said as she started to leaf through a big book.

"I really like the way you decorated this place. It has a nice vibe to it."

Harvey's eyes were practically rolling so hard, that they were in the back of his head now.

"Well aren't you just the sweetest thing," the lady said, her face flushing pink.

'Oh my god, and how long did it even take to look up his damn name, it's not like people were exactly knocking down the doors to stay here,' Harvey continued to rant in his head.

"Specter. Harvey Specter?"

"Yes, that's me."

"Very good. Let me just get you a key. You'll be in room number 4."

"Finally," Harvey mouthed under his breath, to which Mike elbowed him in the arm for.

She walked back into the back room and eventually came back out dangling a key in front of her.

"Well Mr. Specter, if you two need anything just feel free to give us a ring on the phone."

And Harvey was amazed they had phones at all, considering she had just leafed through a book that looked as old as her for reservations, and how the hell did Donna even find this place anyway?

"Thank you," Harvey said as he took the key from her hand.

"Thank you, ma'am. We appreciate it," Mike said with a nod.

"Boy oh boy, Mr. Specter, you did such a wonderful job raising your son. He is just so darn polite," she smiled.

"Wait..what? He is _not_ m--" Harvey started to say before Mike thanked the lady again, and pushed Harvey towards the door, trying his best to at least make it out of the door before he started laughing. The door had just went closed behind him and he was laughing as hard as he laughed in a long time.

"Mike, it's really not funny," Harvey said, the corners of his mouth already starting to turn upwards, but only because of the way Mike was practically on the ground rolling with laughter.

"You're right, it's not funny. I'm so sorry, _dad_ ," he said as he continued to laugh.

"I'm locking you out of the room," Harvey said, as he turned and started to walk to find room number four.

Mike tried to get his laughter under control, he had managed to cut it back to small giggles. "Harvey, wait!," he yelled, as he ran to catch up.

Okay, so the actual room wasn't that bad inside, it was, what's that word Mike used? Kind of _quaint_.

Mike flopped himself down on the bed as soon as they were in the room.

"Finally done laughing?" Harvey asked.

"No. But I didn't want locked out of the room. Or left behind in the morning, so I figured it was best if I stop..until we're in the car again, anyway."

"Smart move. That way I can abandon you alongside some old country road."

"You could never abandon me."

"Yeah. I think you're right about that," Harvey said, with a small smile, "I'm going to go grab our bags from the car."

"I can help."

"It's all right, I got it."

"Hey Harvey," Mike said, catching Harvey as he was halfway out the door.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for bringing me with you. I can't remember ever having as much fun as I had today."

"No problem," Harvey replied before stepping out of the room.

By the time Harvey came back with the bags, Mike was fast asleep. Harvey pulled the covers over him, and whispered 'Night, kid' softly in his ear before changing and crawling into bed himself.

\--

Mike was woken up by his bladder acting like an internal alarm clock. He sat up straight, and surveyed the bed next to him, Harvey wasn't there, he either hadn't slept or he had made the bed after he slept, which Mike figures the latter was the more probable of the two.

He could hear what sounded like the shower running, and was that also singing he heard? He rolled himself out of bed, and walked over to the door, pressing his ear up against it. That was definitely singing. And that was definitely Unchained Melody he was singing. Mike might have laughed, but Harvey actually sounded..well, he sounded really good. So instead of laughing, he just stood there with his ear pressed up against the door, just listening, and taking it all in, until he heard the squeaking of the faucets turning off, where he quickly moved away from the door, and tucked himself back under the covers.

Mike definitely was not expecting to see Harvey come out of the bathroom wearing jeans without a shirt on, his hair still damp and sticking up all over the place, and pretty much looking very un-Harvey like, but that's exactly what he saw.

Harvey had his shirt in hand, and _Why couldn't he have just put that on before he came out. Oh right, because he must still be wet_ , Mike thought, and as watched Harvey patting his chest and stomach dry with the towel, and yeah, maybe he should just stop staring at him now, especially from underneath his blanket the way he was.

 _I'm definitely going to stop looking right about..now...wait geez, look at his arms, how does he even find time for the gym anyway? He probably has his own gym in that giant condo of his..I definitely need to look around next time I'm there_ , Mike continued rattling thoughts off in his head.

Harvey finished drying off and then stretched his arms over his head and pulled on a t-shirt that clung to his skin in all the right places.

 _Huh, funny. I didn't even know he owned any t-shirts. I bet that shirt still costs more than a month of my rent..shit..is he walking this way?_ Mike thought as he noticed Harvey moving in his direction, causing him to immediately duck fully under the covers, close his eyes and pretend that he was sleeping. He felt the bed shift as Harvey sat down on the ledge of it.

"Mike..Hey Mike," Harvey said softly, gripping Mike's shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze.

"What?" Mike replied with his best attempt at sounding like he'd just woken up.

"I need you to get up soon. We have a lot of driving ahead of us today, so if you want to grab a shower before we hit the road, now would be the time to do it."

"All right."

Mike laid in bed for about 5 minutes more before crawling out of it, for the second time.

"Good morning," Harvey said as he walked passed, unable to suppress a smile upon noticing Mike's ridiculous case of bedhead.

"Good morning," Mike echoed as he headed into the bathroom, to which his bladder was finally thankful for.

"Harvey, what's this?" Mike asked as he emerged from the bathroom a minute later holding up a bottle in front of him.

"It's moisturizer, what does it look like?"

"No. I mean, I know what it is, but I was just wondering what chick left it in this bathroom?"

"Are you implying that only women use moisturizer, Mike?"

"Oh no, not at all, but I do think only women use the kind in a pink bottle that smells like a bouquet of flowers."

"Funny, Mike. It's just the kind that happens to work best for my skin. Now give it here and go get your shower."

"Make me."

"Make you? What are you, six?"

"It's all right, I understand, you're too slow. It's okay," Mike teased.

"Mike, if you don't think I can have that bottle out of your hands in less than 25 seconds, you are severely mistaken."

"Oh..well now that you put it like that..25...24...23.."

"Are you kidding me right now?"

"22...21..20.."

Before Mike could get to 19, Harvey had sprung off the bed, and caught him by the shirt, Mike spun around and escaped Harvey's grasp, managing to get about 4 steps away before Harvey had tackled him to the ground.

"Har-vey, you're crushing the air out of me," Mike whined, as he lay flat on his back, Harvey's body pinning him tight against the floor.

"Good," Harvey said, with a smirk. He reached down grabbed Mike's hand that was still holding the bottle of moisturizer, "I'll be taking this back now, just like I said I would," he said as he pried it out of Mike's hand.

"You suck," Mike replied, the smile on his face negating the words he'd just said.

Harvey rolled off of Mike, pulled himself to his feet, and then extended his hands down to offer to help pull Mike off of the ground.

"Hey..your skin actually is really soft," Mike pointed out, before letting go of Harvey's hands after he helped him up.

"Would you go get your damn shower, already?"

"Fine," Mike replied as he grabbed his change of clothes from his duffel bag and went into the bathroom.

Harvey crawled back up onto his bed, and rested his arms behind his head against the headboard, a little smile creeping over his face. Mike was like nobody Harvey had ever met in his life, this much was for certain.

\--

"God, I love hot showers," Mike proclaimed as he walked out of the bathroom, running his fingers through his wet hair.

"I can tell, considering you were in there almost an hour."

"Sorry. I didn't realize I'd taken that long."

"Not a problem, but we really, seriously, have got to leave soon."

They packed up their things, and Harvey sent Mike to check out, well actually, Mike had volunteered to go checkout, which Harvey figures meant he wanted to say goodbye to his friend that he had made, so Harvey just finished packing up the car while he did that, reminding Mike that they really, really, had to leave like, an hour ago, so to make it as quick as humanly possible. Mike was coming out about 10 minutes later, so he actually had at least tried to listen to Harvey.

"She's such a nice lady," Mike said, as he climbed back into the car and pulled his seat belt on.

"She was all right, I guess."

"You're just jealous that she liked me better than you."

"Did you pee?" Harvey asked, choosing to ignore what Mike had just said, especially since he was mostly right.

"Do you really need to keep asking me that?"

"Well, did you?"

"I'll be fine."

"Not stopping, so I certainly hope so. For your sake."

'And damn it, why the hell did Harvey have to ask him that, because now all of a sudden he already felt like he had to pee. Hopefully the feeling would subside. Also, how did Harvey almost never have to go? He must have some sort of iron bladder', Mike thought to himself.

"Can I turn on the radio, Harvey?"

Harvey shot him a look that looked like it either meant no, or definitely not.

"Please? I'll keep it really quiet," Mike said, giving Harvey his best puppy eyes.

"Go ahead," he said, unable to resist that look. He really did need to get better at learning to say 'no' when Mike shot him those puppy eyes. That weakness could end up getting him into a lot of trouble.

Mike did keep his word, and kept the volume down really low, Harvey wasn't even sure if he was really even listening to it. He mostly just seemed content with looking out the window, and then rolling his window down halfway and letting the wind blow through his already perfectly messy hair, with his head back against the head rest and his eyes closed.

It was really hard to divert his full attention back to the road when he'd catch a glimpse out of the corner of his eyes of Mike looking like that; carefree and relaxed, basically the opposite of how he usually looked when he was at work.

"Can I ask you something, Mike?"

"Of course."

"Do you know how to drive? I mean, did you ever even get your license?"

"I'm sorry, Harvey, but if you want me to drive the car, you're kind of out of luck."

"I wasn't asking because I need a break driving, I was asking because I was curious about you."

"Oh. Well, no, I've never had my license. My parents, uh, they died before I was even old enough to drive, and then my Grammy, well, I felt bad asking her to teach or take me, because she couldn't even afford paying for a car for herself, so I just rode my bike everywhere instead. I don't know, I'm also, well, this kind of embarrassing, but I think I'm just kind of terrified of driving. It's stupid, I know, feel free to laugh."

"It's not stupid."

"I feel stupid for feeling that way."

"It's the unknown, and the unknown always has the potential to be scary."

"What do you know about being scared? You're not scared of anything."

"Everybody's scared of something, Mike."

"Like what? What scares you? Besides losing, of course."

"Do you want to drive?" Harvey asked, ignoring Mike's question.

"Eventually..I mean..I guess it'd be nice at some point."

"No, Mike. I mean right now. Do you want to try it?"

"I'm sorry, Harvey, but did you miss the part about me not having a license? And being genuinely terrified?"

"I heard you, but we haven't seen a car for miles, and now's a good a time as any to get rid of that fear."

"I can't."

"You really need to take that word out of your vocabulary," Harvey said as he was pulling to the shoulder of the road.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm not asking you to drive the rest of the way, I just want you to try it. _Try_. It's all I'm asking."

"What if I wreck or break the car? Or what if a cop comes by?"

"You won't wreck, or break the car, and if a cop comes by just flash him those puppy eyes of yours and we'll be off the hook."

"Funny, Harvey, but I'm being serious."

"So am I," Harvey said as he got out of the driver's seat and walked over to the passenger side and opened Mike's door, "Out."

Mike unbuckled his seat belt and climbed out of the car, reluctantly taking his place in the driver's seat. Just sitting in it was making his heart feel like it was beating out of his chest.

"Put on your seat belt," Harvey said.

As he watched Mike slowly pull the belt on, he could see how tense Mike was.

"Hey, Mike. Look at me."

Mike looked over and met Harvey's eyes.

"Just relax, I wouldn't ask you to do something if I thought it was in any way going to hurt you. You can do it," he assured.

As Harvey was explaining everything to Mike it was apparent that his issue was really just the mental block he had, because Mike had clearly read books and information on driving since he seemed to know everything, most things better than Harvey even knew them, considering he was rattling off facts nervously about cars, and driving in general.

"You ready?" Harvey finally asked, knowing full well that Mike certainly was ready.

Mike closed his eyes, took a deep breath in, and exhaled it slowly, glancing over at Harvey and nodding his head yes.

"Holy shit, Harvey. I'm actually driving," Mike said, his voice a mixture of surprise and excitement.

"You are. Just keep your eyes on the road," Harvey reminded.

Mike drove for no more than 10 minutes before Harvey had him pull over so they could switch, because after all, despite it being a long, seemingly abandoned stretch of road laid out in front of them, Mike didn't have a license, and Harvey didn't want to risk getting in trouble, he just wanted Mike to get the experience of it, which he had definitely just gotten, even though he never broke going more than 15 miles per hour.

"I can't believe I just drove! That was kind of awesome!" Mike exclaimed as he got out of the car and walked over to the passenger side. As Harvey was coming around the other side of the car he was met with Mike wrapping his arms around him, engulfing him in a hug while thanking him.

Harvey smiled, and returned the hug, because, what the hell, he _was_ proud of Mike, after all. He also made sure to make a mental note to himself to remind Mike that what happens on road trips stays on road trips.


	2. Chapter 2

Despite the late start, and the impromptu driver's ed session, they were making good time, those long empty roads were perfect for making up lost time, as it turns out. They did manage to eventually find civilization again, which was good considering they needed a chance to stretch their legs, grab food, and of course, give Mike his bathroom break.

They managed to find a very place to do that, well, Mike had found it anyway. He was actually scary good with directions, and knowing where everything was, far better than any GPS he had ever owned, as far as Harvey was concerned.

After they finished their lunch, they headed back out on their journey, but not before Mike had taught Harvey the magic of mixing ketchup with mayonnaise to dip fries in.

Harvey was still driving long after the sun met the concrete, and the road became bathed with moonlight. They weren't too far off from their destination now according to Mike, which was good news because Harvey's eyes were starting to feel heavy, and the white lines on the road were starting to blur.

Two pee breaks, and two cups of coffee later, they were pulling into the motel parking lot, and yeah, Donna definitely had purposely picked these places out. Harvey wasn't sure what her purpose was, though he assumes it was a means to torture him by giving him the full road trip experience. He made another mental note to himself; have long, long talk with Donna when he gets back. He probably would have called her then and there for that conversation, but his phone hadn't had reception in hours, which, Donna probably knew that would happen, the woman was always 10 steps in front of everybody.

"I'll check us in, you get our things," Mike said before getting out of the car.

Harvey probably would have argued with Mike and reminded him that he can't just tell him what to do, and expect him to do it, but he was too tired and his back and shoulders were stiff from sitting so long, so he was content with getting their things and trying to stretch and work out the kinks in the parking lot while Mike checked them in.

"We're in room lucky number 13," Mike yelled to Harvey as he dangled the key in front of him upon coming out of the front office.

"You do realize that 13 is usually an _unlucky_ number, right?"

"Usually doesn't mean always."

"How observant of you."

Mike jammed the key into the door, and pushed the door in. The room looked relatively similar to the one they had stayed in yesterday, another quaint room. Except, there was only one bed.

"I knew I should have come with you to check-in."

"Why?"

"Because there's only one bed, and there's two of us."

"Oh yeah, about that..The guy said the room that we were supposed to have had some kind of leaky pipe, so he offered this one instead."

"And did he fail to mention that this room only had one bed?"

"No. I just figured it's not a big deal. It's only one night. Right?"

"This is ridiculous."

"Don't worry, Harvey, I won't sleep in the nude tonight if that's what you're worried about," Mike joked.

"I'm glad at least one of us is amused by this. And do you really sleep in the nude? Actually, wait, on second thought, don't answer that."

"Whatever, Harvey. I'm going to grab something out of the vending machine they have, do you want anything?"

"I'm good."

"Suit yourself."

\--

They had different types of sandwiches in the vending machine, so Mike got him and Harvey one, because despite what Harvey said, he had to of been hungry by now, which is why Mike assumes he acted so grumpy over there only being one bed.

It really wasn't that big of a deal. Was it? It was just sleep, after all. Mike stopped off at the car on the way back to the room and grabbed an assortment of junk food they still had from their stop the other day ago.

"I got us food," Mike said as he pushed the door opening, trying his best to balance everything before spilling it across the top of the dresser.

"I told you I didn't want anything."

"Well, you're a liar, you need food, Harvey. It's been a long day, and you haven't eaten for hours. So here," Mike said as he picked up his peanut butter and jelly sandwich and tossed it at him.

"Gee, thanks, Mom," Harvey said sarcastically, "Do you want to cut the crust off of it for me first?"

"My mom used to do that for me all the time actually," Mike recalled.

"I'm sorry, Mike. I didn't mean anything by that," Harvey immediately said, when he noticed the flash of hurt that came across Mike's face when he talked about his mom.

"It's okay, Harvey. I wasn't offended, just remembering, is all. But I forgot napkins, and I could use something to drink, do you want something?"

"I'll just take water, if they have it, otherwise just get me whatever you're having."

"Sure. Be right back."

"Thanks."

Mike was back in less than five minutes, with two bottles of water in hand. "Here you go," Mike said as he handed Harvey a bottle of water and a few napkins.

"Hey where'd my sandwich go?" Mike asked, glancing over to the empty spot on the dresser where his sandwich had been sitting.

"Oh. I just moved you over here to the table with me," Harvey explained.

When Mike moved over to the empty chair at the table, sure enough there was his sandwich, only it was now his sandwich sans crust. Harvey had cut the crust off of it for him while he was gone.

"Harvey..you.." Mike started, and stopped, because he wasn't even sure he could get the rest of the words out even if he wanted to. It was one of the simplest, yet sweetest things anybody had ever done for him.

"Sit, Mike. Eat. I don't want to have to devour all this junk food myself," Harvey grinned.

Once they had finished eating, Mike went to get changed, while Harvey cleaned up the table. Harvey changed after Mike was done, and then they both stood in the all too small motel bathroom, brushing their teeth, occasionally catching the other glancing at them in the mirror and then looking away immediately hoping they didn't notice.

They both crawled into the bed from their respective sides, getting situated before Mike reached over and flipped the switch of the lamp off. There was a soft beige glow that lit the room, a combination of moon light, and the light from the motel sign.

"Harvey?" Mike said, breaking the silence that had been filling the room for the past 15 minutes.

"Yeah, Mike?"

"You never told me what you're scared of."

"It doesn't matter. Just close your eyes and go to sleep."

"Harvey, please?"

Harvey didn't respond for awhile, just stared ahead sleepily, thinking about the question.

"I'm scared of letting down the people I care most about," Harvey finally said.

When he didn't get a response from Mike, he rolled over to his other side, and saw that Mike had already fallen asleep. 'Good. That means he didn't hear that', Harvey thought, as he closed his eyes and waited for sleep to take him.

\--

Harvey woke up to find Mike's arm draped across his chest, and his leg intertwined with his own.

"Mike," he whispered, trying to wake him.

Mike just groaned and snuggled his head into Harvey's shoulder. Harvey supposes he could just let him sleep a little while longer, it was still early. Only because he wanted Mike to be fully rested, and figured he could use the extra sleep himself. It definitely wasn't because he maybe liked how Mike was snuggling up against him, and practically using him as his own personal body pillow. That'd be ridiculous.

Harvey had been able to fall back asleep with ease, which he attributed to still being tired, it wasn't because he had felt completely comfortable and relaxed with Mike's arm draped over him like that. Not at all. When he woke up again, he looked up at the clock on the wall, and this time, he would actually have to be successful in waking Mike up. They had another long day of driving ahead of them, and then tomorrow they'd have a short drive in the morning to their destination.

Harvey pulled his legs away from Mike, and lifted his arm off of his chest, slowly sliding away from him. The movement was enough to start waking Mike up. He blinked his eyes open sleepily.

"Harvey.." he said, before rolling over to his other side and pulling the covers over his head in an attempt to fall back asleep.

"Mike, you have to get up. We have to leave soon."

"Harvey, please, just a little bit longer," Mike whined.

"How about this? I'm going to go get my shower, but when I'm done, you have to get up. No excuses. Got it?"

"Thank you," Mike said, his words muffled by the fact that his face was buried in the pillow.

Harvey went and got his shower, he may have taken a little longer than he normally did, but only because nothing beat a hot shower in the morning, and this shower had really good water pressure, that's all though, certainly not because he wanted to give Mike a few extra minutes of sleep.

"All right, Mike. You're up next," he said as he sat down on the bed, and pulled the covers off of Mike.

Mike yawned and rubbed at his eyes, as he tried to adjust his vision to the bright sun light that was now shining forcibly through the curtains and into the room.

"You smell good," Mike said to Harvey.

"I'm going to chalk that comment up to you still not being fully awake yet."

"Well, what? You do."

"Go get your shower, Mike."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going," Mike sighed, as he finally managed to crawl out of bed, gather his things and hit the shower.

\---

Harvey was sitting at the table, reading the newspaper and sipping his coffee he had made while Mike was gone. Bonus of this room was that unlike the other, it had a coffee machine. Granted, the coffee tasted almost as good as drinking dirt, but it was caffeinated, and that's really all Harvey asked of it.

He heard the bathroom door opening, and glanced up from his newspaper, only to see Mike walking out of the bathroom in nothing but boxers.

"I know I didn't specify, but when I told you to get a shower, I assumed you'd know that getting dressed went along with it."

"Ha ha," Mike laughed sarcastically, "I just grabbed the wrong pants."

"Right," Harvey replied, as he went back to trying to read his newspaper, though it was kind of hard to focus on reading when Mike was standing less than 10 feet away from him wearing practically nothing. Harvey found his eyes kept drifting back over to Mike no matter how many times he repeated the mantra of 'focus' in his head.

"Like what you see?" Mike asked, as he started to pull on his pants.

"Um, excuse me?" Harvey said, swallowing hard.

"Well, you're reading the stocks, right? See anything worth investing in?"

"Oh..right..that. No, I don't see anything," Harvey replied, breathing a mental sigh of relief.

"What did you think I was talking about?"

"Nothing. I didn't really hear what you said," Harvey said, hoping that Mike would buy his excuse.

"This my coffee?" Mike asked, after getting dressed.

"Yeah, it is. We should get going. If you want to grab something out of the vending machine and check us out, while I load everything up, go ahead and do it. I don't want to have to stop. Also Mike--"

"I know, Harvey. Use the bathroom."

"Well, look at that, you _do_ have a learning curve."

-

Harvey had loaded up the car, and was now just sitting in it waiting for Mike. The air had a bit of a chill to it today, but the sun was still shining brightly, and Harvey was thankful for that. Rain and road trips aren't exactly a good combination.

"Checked us out, and grabbed us a couple things," Mike said, as he tossed a bag into the backseat.

"Did you use the bathroom?"

"Damn it!"

"Go."

\--

Mike was jogging back to the car, no more than 5 minutes later.

"Now, you actually remembered this time, and didn't just get lost on the way, right?"

"I don't get lost, remember?"

"Just put your seat belt on," Harvey said, as he started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

They drove for a few hours, in mostly silence. Mike was content with listening to his iPod, and Harvey was content with just trying to make good time, and catch glimpses of Mike out of his peripheral every now and again.

"Hey Harvey," Mike said, pulling turning off his iPod and pulling out the ear bud.

"Yeah?"

"Can I drive again?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you don't have a license."

"I didn't have one yesterday and you let me."

"That was different."

"Please?"

"No."

"But what if--"

"Not happening."

"Will you help me get my license when we get back to New York?"

Harvey seemed to think on that one for a moment, "Maybe."

"Seriously?" Mike said, unable to hide the excitement in his voice.

"I'm not promising you anything, but it's a possibility."

Mike seemed content enough in the fact that Harvey hadn't said no, so he stuck back in his ear buds and settled back down into his seat. Until Harvey had decided to start prepping him on the client, anyway, which, Mike figures Harvey was just getting bored and wanted to talk to him, which he was okay with.

Mike had done his research and knew most of what Harvey was saying, but he just let Harvey tell him the things he'd already known anyway, even asking Harvey questions that he already knew the answers to, as a means of encouraging Harvey to continue the conversation.

Somehow that conversation ended up devolving into embarrassing stories about Louis, which, Mike was amazed about the endless amount of them Harvey seemed to have, but Mike was now _really_ glad he had encouraged the conversation.

"But Mike, here's the thing. You can't let Louis know I told you any of these stories. What happens on this road trip, stays on the road trip."

"Pretty sure the saying is Vegas."

"It's one of the cardinal rules of road trips. Sorry."

"Can I please just use the story of him getting his shoelace caught in the escalator?"

"You know I'd love to say yes to that, but I can't. Like I said, cardinal rule."

"Damn it. I wanted something to hold over his head."

"Are you kidding, Mike? You've got that brilliant mind of yours to hold over him."

"I don't think Louis thinks my mind is brilliant. Or any of the other associates, really."

"Of course they do. There's a reason they act like dicks to you, Mike, and it's jealousy. They don't even have half the natural talent and skill that you have. You just need to stop doubting yourself so much, and not worry about what other people think."

"You make it sound like it's so easy."

"I'm not saying it's easy, but it's something that you're capable of."

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"For believing in me."

"Well, you're worth believing in. Now, before this starts turns into a 'moment', why don't you use that big brain of yours and tell me where you want to stop to eat at? Make it somewhere within the vicinity of a gas station, since we're going to need to refuel afterwards."

"You're getting awfully specific with the directions you want."

"Are you saying you can't do it?"

"Of course I can do it, just thought I'd point it out."

Mike had given Harvey directions to a place that was infinitely nicer than the places they had stopped prior to this, of course, it still wasn't even close to being on par with the places Harvey dined at back home, but the place had a nice outdoor dining area, where Harvey and Mike decided to eat, so they could enjoy the weather while enjoying each others company as well.

\--

After they had finished eating, they stopped off at the gas station, and refueled and set ahead for countless hours of driving. Harvey had been putting about 12-13 hours a day driving in, and it was getting tiresome.

He was thankful to have Mike with him, because he did a good job at talking to him and keeping him interested and alert the entire drive, and it seemed to make the miles go a lot faster, but regardless of that, Harvey was still entirely happy when they pulled into the parking lot of the next crappy, sorry, quaint motel. He didn't care if it had two beds, one bed, or no beds, he just wanted to be some place other than cramped inside that car.

"Want me to check us in?" Mike asked.

"Last time I let you check us in, you got us one bed, I'm not so sure I should."

"I'm checking us in," Mike replied, ignoring Harvey's comment, as he ran off to the office.

-

"Done," Mike said, as he greeted Harvey who was standing outside the door with their bags.

"Get two beds this time?"

"Whatever, you know you loved sharing a bed with me."

"It was like sleeping with an octopus."

"What's that mean?"

"All arms and legs, Mike. That's all I'm saying."

"Yeah right, I never even touched you!"

"You were practically violating me in my sleep. It's no big deal, I mean, I get it. You were probably dreaming about me, and couldn't help yourself. It happens."

"Get over yourself, Harvey. I do not dream about you. Besides, it's not violation if the person likes it. Which, I'm sure you did."

"It was almost on par with getting a root canal."

"You're an ass."

Mike pushed open the door of the motel room, and they walked in.

"Look at that, you got us two beds."

"You sound disappointed. Don't worry, Harvey, you can still cuddle with me if you want."

"That's not disappointment you heard, it's called relief. Big difference."

"Uh huh. Hey, did you know they have a pool out back?"

"And you're telling me this, why?"

"We could go swimming."

"It's too cold for swimming."

"But it's a heated pool."

"Mike, the air is still cold. I don't want you getting sick."

"That sounds a lot like something someone who _cares_ about me would say."

"No. I care about _me_ not getting sick, and if _you_ get sick, you will undoubtedly pass your germs on to me, and I can't afford to have that happening."

"Why is it so hard for you to just admit you care? Why do you have to be so stubborn about it?!" Mike half-shouted, frustration seeping into his voice.

"What the hell is your fixation with always trying to get me to admit I care? Why is it so god damn important to you?"

"It's not. Just forget it," Mike sighed.

Of course, hearing Harvey saying he cared _was_ important to Mike, because no matter how many times Harvey had showed he cared, him never admitting to it still left room for doubt in his mind. It made him question whether Harvey did nice things for him because he felt sorry for him, rather than because he _liked_ him. But it was a stupid thing to bring up, Mike guesses. You can't make somebody admit something that they don't want to. Or aren't ready for. Or maybe truly didn't feel. Mike went back and forth a lot on which of those reasons it was that prevented Harvey.

"Where are you going?"

"Nowhere..just going to get some air."

"You should take a jacket."

Mike just walked out, and pulled the door shut behind him.

\--

Harvey just sat down on the bed, a little frustrated with Mike, but more frustrated with himself. Harvey was always under the impression that actions spoke louder than words, so it was uncharted territory when he met Mike, who needed not only actions, but also needed the words to go along with it as well.

Harvey was good with words, when dealing with other lawyers, clients and business things. Words were simple when it came to that sort of thing. With Mike though, it was hard, and it's like he could feel the words there in his chest, sitting right in his heart, but that's where they stayed.

A few times Mike had smiled at him, the kind of smile that lit up his entire face, as well as the entire room he was in, and Harvey had felt those words he wanted to say to Mike jump from his heart up into to his throat, but they never managed to make it to his mouth, let alone past his lips.

He'd told Mike he was scared of losing the people he loved. Of course, Mike had been sleeping when he told him, but he couldn't help but wonder if Mike would have actually heard it, if he would have realized he was one of those people Harvey was talking about. Probably not. But he was.

Harvey wasn't crazy about throwing that L word around. When you throw that word out there in the open, you can only hope it's like a boomerang and it comes back to you, but sometimes when you throw it out, it turns out to just be a stick you're throwing; you throw it and get nothing in return, and you're out a stick now too. Harvey thinks this thing could be a boomerang, but he doubted himself, which in itself was something new and unfamiliar.

'When exactly did the road trip turn into this', he thought to himself. He didn't recall _Tell Mike You Care_ or _Have a revelation about your feelings for Mike_ being on his list of things to do during it. Especially considering that if the conversation doesn't go in the right direction, that makes for one awkward trip back home, and well, just a genuinely awkward time from there on out. Maybe he'd just wait and see how Mike was acting once he got back, and play it from there. That sounded like an okay plan to him.

\--

Harvey started to get a little worried when Mike was gone almost an entire hour. The room was cold, so Harvey could imagine outside was even more so. He got out of bed, and tried to adjust the thermostat so that the room would be warm when Mike finally did get back.

He got his jacket out of his duffel bag and threw it on, and also grabbed a Harvard hoodie out from his bag that he figures he could have Mike throw on when he found him.

\--

It didn't take long to find him either, he just went around back to where the pool was. Mike was sitting on the ledge of it with his shoes next to him, and his pants rolled up, feet and legs dangling in the water.

"I brought you something," Harvey said, as he held out the Harvard hoodie to Mike.

Mike looked reluctant to take it at first, but the fact that he actually was cold must have won out, because he grabbed it, and slipped it over his head. It kind of looked perfect on him. Harvey sat down next to Mike, and took off his own shoes, rolled up his own pants, and dipped his legs into the water next to Mike's. They just sat there like that for awhile, Harvey swishing the warm water around with his legs.

"Look, Mike," Harvey started.

"Harvey, it's okay. You don't need to say anything. I know I need to stop trying to get you to say you care. It was a stupid thing for me to get frustrated over, and I'm not even sure I know why I did, but I feel like such an idiot. So if we could just pretend this never happened, that would be great."

"Mike," Harvey said, making Mike jerk his attention towards Harvey.

And this was when Harvey was planning to say _Mike, I care about you_. Just like that. Get it done and over with. Except the words were lost the second Mike caught Harvey's glance with his bright blue eyes, that were even more blue from the way the mixture of pool water and lights were reflecting in them.

So instead, Harvey just kissed him. Closed his eyes, and let his mouth negotiate for him, maybe Mike would be able to taste and feel the words that had been heavy on Harvey's tongue. Mike moved his hand up through Harvey's hair, and pushed back into the kiss, and Harvey thought maybe he'd gotten the message.

Harvey moved away from Mike's mouth and started to work his mouth up along Mike's neck, his breath hot against Mike's cool skin.

"We should," Mike said, trying to get his mind to focus on words, instead of what Harvey was doing with his mouth, "We should go to the room," he finally managed to get out.

Harvey moved his mouth back to Mike's, kissing him once more, hard, desperately, like he needed to capture all of Mike's mouth, so the taste of Mike in his mouth would last until they managed to get back to the room.

\--  
They were immediately drawn back together like magnets the second they were back in the room, hardly wanting to take the second it took to kick the door shut. Harvey quickly tossed off his jacket, before he placed a hand on each side of Mike's face and drove him backwards into the wall, steadying his head, and kissing Mike with everything he had.

Mike's brain felt like it should be jumping to a million different places, different what if's and precautions that he'd normally be thinking of if he wasn't so distracted by Harvey, yet all he could think about was how Harvey's mouth on his felt like the last piece of some puzzle he'd been waiting forever for somebody to put in place.

He pawed at Harvey's shirt, trying to get it off between being kissed breathlessly, and Harvey pressing up against him, the friction sending a surge through his entire body that made him feel a little weak in the knees. He managed to get off Harvey's shirt, and Harvey placed his arm across the small of Mike's back, spinning him around and firmly pushing him down onto the bed, only to straddle his body with his own. Harvey leaned down and kissed Mike once more on the mouth, holding it, taking all of it in, before breaking away to reach down and help pull Mike's hoodie off, and then his shirt quickly followed, both tossed haphazardly onto the floor next to the bed.

"I want you, Harvey," Mike said, his voice low and throaty, as he started to work the button and zipper of Harvey's pants.

Harvey thought the timing of his revelation earlier was bad, now it was infinitely worse.

"No..Mike..we can't do this," he said as he pushed Mike's hands away from his waist.

"Harvey, it's all right, I have a condom in my bag, just let me," Mike said, as he reached back for Harvey's pants again.

"No. No, I'm not talking about a condom. I'm talking about this. We just can't have sex."

"I promise not to tell anybody at work, if that's what you're worried about."

"That's not it."

"Then what the hell is it, Harvey?"

"It's just..I _care_ about you."

"You can't have sex with me because you care about me? What does that even mean?"

"It feels wrong, Mike. I mean, it feels right too, and I want it, believe me, I want _you_ , but it also feels wrong. I just don't want to have sex with you in some stupid motel room before I've even gotten a chance to really take you out on an official date."

"You want to take me on a date?"

"Yeah..well, I think you deserve that. If you want to go on one, that is. I don't mean to be presumptuous."

"Of course. I guess I just didn't think you were the romantic type."

"I'm not. But you've kind of made me want to make exceptions on things."

"Like make an exception on the salary an associate gets paid?"

"I don't think so."

"It was worth a shot. So..where do we go from here?"

"We get this client to sign that contract on the dotted line tomorrow, get back to New York, and we'll take it from there."

"Sounds fair enough. But if we're uh...done here. I'm going to go grab a shower...so I can..warm up."

"Just go, already."

Mike scrambled off of the bed, and gathered his shirt and hoodie from the floor, before grabbing his shower things. The very cold shower he was going to need after Harvey had completely stonewalled him. Not that he didn't think it was going to be worth it. Harvey finally admitting he cared was a victory in itself.

\--

Harvey was already changed into his sleepwear and was sitting with his back propped up against the headboard of the bed, by the time Mike got back from his long shower. Mike was wearing his pajama pants and the Harvard hoodie that Harvey had given him earlier.

"Looks good on you."

"Maybe someday I'll actually get to go there."

"Come here," Harvey said, pulling the blanket back and shifting himself over to make room for Mike.

Mike climbed into the bed, and moved his body up next to Harvey's. He rested his head against Harvey's chest, and felt content just laying there and listening to the way Harvey's heart was beating beneath his shirt. Harvey waited for Mike to fall asleep first, and then carefullyreached over to turn off the light

\--

Harvey was surprised to wake up to an empty bed. This was the first morning that Mike had gotten up before him. He didn't hear the shower running, but heard the door opening, as he groggily looked at the clock, trying to see exactly what time it was.

"Oh, hey Harvey, didn't mean to wake you. I just grabbed us some coffee and donuts."

Mike was already dressed in his suit, and Harvey could tell by his hair that he had already showered.

"How did you manage to get up before me?" Harvey said, yawning as soon as he had gotten the sentence out.

"Turns out your snoring actually makes a perfect alarm."

"I don't snore."

"My mistake, somebody must have just left their buzz-saw running in the other room then."

"What is that?" Harvey said, suddenly noticing the tie Mike was wearing.

"Oh..this? It's a tie."

"No shit. I know it's a tie, Mike. But where's your stupid skinny tie?"

"I decided to bring one of these with me, since you kept stressing that this was a business trip and not a road trip, so I just figured.."

"It looks good. Who picked it out for you?"

"What makes you think somebody picked it out for me?"

"Who?"

"Okay, fine. It was Jenny. I can pick out my own ties though."

"That remains to be seen," Harvey replied, before rolling out of the warmth of the bed to go get his suit from the car so he could shower and get ready for the day.

\--

When Harvey stepped out of the bathroom, dressed in his suit, Mike was slightly taken aback, because these past few days he had just been Harvey, and with the suit back on he was suddenly, Harvey Specter, best damn closer New York has ever seen.

"So we have to hit the road in about 15 minutes. You always want to be early to meetings, never just on time, and certainly never late," Harvey lectured, as he picked up his cup of coffee and took a sip.

Mike stood up and kissed Harvey, just a quick, fast, over before Harvey even realized what was happening kiss.

"You realize you can't be doing that at the client's."

"I know. Just needed to make sure it felt the same when you had the suit on."

"Did it?"

"It did. So you ready to get this show on the road?"

"Let's."

\--

The meeting with Mr. Wilson had went incredibly well, Harvey had smooth talked him, going over everything with a fine tooth comb, and despite Harvey telling Mike before going in to 'Just sit still, and look pretty,' Mr. Wilson had taken a liking to Mike and found his ability to absorb knowledge highly impressive, and had decided to test Mike in various ways, which of course, Mike passed all his little tests.

He thanked them for being considerate enough to drive the way there, instead of fly, and that he hadn't planned on doing business with any law firms who wouldn't be willing to follow such a "simple request" as he had referred to it.

All in all, they were in and out of there in less than 45 minutes, papers in hand, and Jessica was going to be extremely happy. Which officially made the road trip a total success.

They had stopped for a celebratory lunch and drinks afterwards, where they decided that they'd get a jump start on heading home after they were finish. Harvey planned on driving as far as he was physically capable of going, before they'd stop off for the night and rest. Only to wake up and repeat, and then again, until they were finally back home. As much as they both were enjoying the trip, and each other, they were also both missing the comfort of their own beds. Diner food and being stuck in a car for hours upon hours were both getting pretty old by now too.

\--

It was Friday evening when they had finally arrived back in New York. Mike had been sleeping the last two hours, and that was the first time Mike had slept in the entire trip, and it seemed to be after Harvey had told him that he knew the rest of the way back home from where they were.

Which Harvey knew probably meant that Mike had stayed awake because he was scared of falling asleep and having them get lost, or that he was paranoid that Harvey was serious about making him pay for that GPS if he actually did manage to get lost. Which, he had never intended to make Mike pay for to begin with.

"Mike. Wake up. We're home."

Miked yawned and rubbed at his eyes, looking down at his watch. "Sorry that I fell asleep."

"It's all right, you wouldn't have been sleeping if you obviously didn't need it."

"This is your place, Harvey."

"You're so observant. I have to get this car back to the rental place, so figured you could just stay at my place for the night, if you want. I could pick us up dinner on the way back. Any of this sound okay to you?" Harvey asked, as he noticed Mike still spacing out.

"No, uh, yeah that sounds perfect."

\--

"Am I allowed to actually touch stuff in here, now?" Mike asked once they were both back in Harvey's condo.

"What?"

"Last time I was in here you yelled at me and told me not to touch anything."

"Oh. That. You can touch whatever you want. Make yourself at home." Harvey always forgot that Mike always remembered things like that. "I've got to get this back before the place closes, but call me if you need anything, otherwise I'll call or text you to let you know when I'll be home. Okay?"

"All right."

\--

When Harvey got to the rental place, it was mostly empty, so he was able to walk right up to the front desk.

"What can I help you with today, Sir?"

"I rented a car from here, under the name Harvey Specter."

"And you're returning this car now, is that right, Mr. Specter?"

"Actually I'd like to buy it."

"Excuse me?"

"I said I'd like to buy it."

"Sir, I'm afraid you're mistaken. We don't sell our rentals."

"Really? Because I feel like you're about to make an exception," Harvey said as he pulled out his check book, scribbled down some numbers, ripped the check out, and pushed it in front of the man.

"Sir..that's more than twice what the car is worth."

"So what are you waiting for then? You should be jumping at this offer."

"If you'll excuse me for a minute," the man said before disappearing into the backroom for a few minutes.

When he emerged, he told Harvey that the car was his, and that they'd send him the information. Just like Harvey knew they would.

"Good move." Harvey said before leaving, twirling the keys around his finger on the way back to the car.

\--

Mike opened the door and grabbed one of the bags out of Harvey's hand when he got back to the condo. Mike had text him while he was out saying that he was craving Chinese, so Harvey had stopped on the way back and picked up an assortment of different things for them to eat while they finally got to enjoy a night spent in some place other than a motel. Mike had walked the bags over and sat them down on the kitchen counter, Harvey followed behind.

"Here. These are yours," Harvey said, as he tossed the keys at Mike.

Mike caught them against his body. "What are these?"

"They're called keys."

"Harvey, you know what I mean."

"They're the keys to your first car. It's a really crappy one, but it handled pretty well on a road trip, and has some good memories attached to it, so it evens out."

"Harvey...I can't take these. I can't afford a car."

"Last I checked the word afford isn't associated with gifts."

"You can't just give me a car either."

"Sure I can. I actually forgot to mention the rule about picking up a souvenir while on road trips, so consider this yours."

"I honestly don't know what to say right now."

Harvey took two steps forward, and pulled Mike into a deep, passion-filled kiss. "That's all you need to say," Harvey said as he pulled away from Mike's lips.

"Does this mean you're going to teach me to drive?"

"I haven't decided on that, yet. But actually, that reminds me, there is one thing you have to promise me before that car is officially yours."

"What's that?"

"You drive next road trip. Deal?"

"Deal."


End file.
